The usual health experts suspects are calling for bans on junk food TV ads, saying they shouldn‚Äôt be aired before 9pm in the hope that parents will stop getting pressured by their kids wanting ‘unhealthy food and sugary drinks’.

The British Heart Foundation is saying ‘seven in ten parents with children aged four to 16 have been pestered by their children to buy junk food they have seen advertised on TV.’¬† ¬† Read more »

Christchurch City councillors yesterday discussed banning additional takeaway outlets along Memorial Ave, near Russley Rd, but instead opted to have them pushed further back on sites.

Deputy Mayor Vicki Buck said there was at present no limit on the number of fast food outlets allowed near the airport. She was concerned tourists’ eyes would be assaulted by a lineup of “fat and sugar” as they entered the city.

“I don’t want it to be, ‘Welcome to Christchurch, and here’s McDonald’s and KFC’,” Buck said.

Council senior planner Mark Stevenson said it was possible to create a rule to ban fast food outlets from fronting on to Memorial Ave.

A number of us that visit Whaleoil have identified with Cam’s struggles over the years. ¬†It’s because a lot of us have similar ones. ¬†Be they alcoholism, depression, personality disorders, brain chemistry issues, addictions, or what have you.

Some of us have won some battles, some of us slip back again only to fight the same battles again.

What makes Cameron’s struggle so valuable is that it has been in public, and we’ve all been able to root for someone that is deeply flawed. ¬†Just like us.

Burger King’s latest store has been opened by Labour’s associate health spokesman Iain Lees-Galloway, but he turned down the opportunity to sample its fare for himself.

Lees-Galloway opened Burger King’s Rangitikei St store yesterday morning, the company’s third in Palmerston North, but the city MP was quick to distance himself from advocating fast food by acknowledging his spokesman position and telling the small crowd he was “pleased to see another business opening in the Manawatu”.

Burger King received 120 applications for 48 positions, working with Work and Income to source some of the workers.

Lees-Galloway was criticised earlier this month by Massey University nutritionist Jane Coad who expressed shock that an associate health spokesman would open a fast-food outlet.

Yesterday he described Burger King’s food as “treat food” and he hoped the business would “get on board” with moves to give people the information they needed to make the “right” choices. “We all have to work together on this.

“Obesity has been on the rise over the last 30 to 40 years and what we’re seeing is a much earlier onset.

“It’s true it’s possible to link that to the availability of high-fat, high-sugar, calorie-dense food. Those are treats basically, treats we should enjoy from time to time, and that’s the kind of thing that you have on offer here. It’s like alcohol, you can use it, misuse it, and abuse it.”

He took the chance to criticise the Government for not adopting a “traffic light” food labelling system.

The Health¬†Commissars¬†are on the march. Now they want to ban legal products from advertising their wares. I expect Cat¬†Pause¬†will protest this though because it discriminates against her beloved fatties:

Health officials worried about an obesity epidemic want fast-food advertising dropped from public property, including bus shelters, and are questioning fast-food and soft-drink sponsorship of public events.

They have also raised concerns over the lack of political power to stop fast-food restaurants being built near schools and in poor areas.

The moves by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service are a return to the healthy-eating principles which drove the national ban on pies in school tuck shops.

The ban was among the last moves of the outgoing Labour Government in 2008. It lasted eight months, then was overturned by the National Government.

And they mirror moves in New York, where mayor Michael Bloomberg has upset the fast-food industry by banning trans-fats and super-size soft drinks.

A Melbourne council will consider hitting major fast food outlets up to 400 per cent more on their rates in a move backed by dieticians and health groups.

Darebin Council’s move could be followed by other councils concerned about the spread of junk food chains despite warnings about illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

Darebin councillor Gaetano Greco said council was investigating a rate slug to discourage and penalise major food outlets.

“Councils have the responsibility of looking after the health and wellbeing of their community,” he said yesterday.

“Here we are, looking at an extra tool that council can use to limit or control the spread of fast-food chain outlets,” Mr Greco said.

Tax the person, not the food. Fat bastards are a cost on society, and they should pay their fair share. But don‚Äôt introduce a dumb tax system that taxes businesses or food based on stupid people purchasing from them. We will end up with a messy tax system where there are endless arguments over what is a fat food.

Yesterday, I was spurred on by tantalising tales of forbidden food and a new burger chain that purportedly served up foot long cheese-burgers with more calories than a KFC Double Down.

I checked the locations for Carl’s Jr and found that there was one at Takanini. An excursion was needed from Manukau. I popped onto the motorway and two exits down at Takanini I headed towards Papakura…it was easy to find.

The Herald had repeated that Carl’s Jr:

Has a notorious foot-long cheeseburger that has twice as many calories as KFC’s Double Down

That is exactly what I was looking for…turns out that the repeater, Anne Gibson, appears to have researched using Google and not actually gone into a Carl’s Jr restaurant. Sounds like she may have been coached in “journalism” by Simple Simon Collins.

Carl’s Jr doesn;t have a foot-long cheeseburger…but they do have quite possibly the best fast food burgers in New Zealand and the certainly the yummiest fries.

One of my loyal army members contacted me on Facebook when he heard I was heading down there and so he joined me and my mate for lunch. We were all very¬†satisfied¬†with our nosh.

Carl’s Jr do things ¬†a little differently. You go in and order, they give you a number and a short time later your yummy, extremely hot burger arrives at your table.

I had the Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger which was a whole lot of yum and though not a foot long either it is 1000 calories which is almost double the 540 calories of the puny double down.

I reckon the only thing better than that would be two of them.

I am reliably informed the Guacomole Burger was awesome. Most menu items I am told are available in low carb which is exactly what I require.

As far as price goes it wasn’t as cheap as Maccas, but a whole lot tastier…and beats Burger King hands down as well.

The service and surroundings at Takanini were pleasant. Again a distinct difference from the lazy repeating of the Herald. Most people attending the restaurant appeared to be reasonably well dressed. They were certainly well above the dross you would see scoffing up at a KFC.

As a final note, the repeater at the Herald carped on about locating the restaurants in poor areas…and cited Glen Innes as an example. Now on¬†the¬†surface most Aucklanders would nod sagely and say that G.I. is a poor area..hard hat even…some times worse than South Auckland. However the repeater, mainly because she was researching via her kepyboard neglected to notice that the address of 113-117 Felton Mathews Ave is actually in St Johns and near to the swanky new manufactured suburb of Stonefields where a 4 bedroom terrace house will set you back $720,000.

It certainly looks like the Herald is really continuing to pimp out the poor¬†¬†in order to sell newspapers.